


Defect

by The_Secret_Life_Of_Tea



Series: Novelties [1]
Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: ADHD, Autism, Don't worry dysphoria and being trans will not be treated as a medical anomaly, Dysphoria, Gen, Neurodiversity, Rabbit has ADHD, The Jon and The Spine are both autistic, Trans Character, transgender character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-11-29 02:34:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 6,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11431377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Secret_Life_Of_Tea/pseuds/The_Secret_Life_Of_Tea
Summary: Rabbit’s just twitchy and confused, The Jon’s just a bit odd, and The Spine’s just too smart for his own good. Because robots can’t be neurodivergent or have gender dysphoria… can they?





	1. Getting Wild

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheTetrarch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTetrarch/gifts), [bbjkrss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bbjkrss/gifts).



> Another new fic?? Yep. I love Steam Powered Giraffe and headcanon The Spine and The Jon as autistic, and Rabbit as ADHD. Her transition will be dealt with compassionately and kindly, as I am a nonbinary person myself and perhaps a trans man (still working it out). 
> 
> If you all have any comments or prompts or anything, I'm happy to hear them! I'm at dashing-hyphen on tumblr.

"They call me Starburner, but they don't know me none, they say I'm burning up the galaxy! Starburner? Ha, what a travesty, I'm just seekin' out an amnesty..." Rabbit swayed to the music, his flared slacks moving with his hips as he sang. This was what he lived for-- the cheering audience singing right along with him, his words in their mouths... the rush of performance ran through his oil lines, igniting them with a beautiful, thrumming energy. He finished out the song with a flourish, pausing only to take bows with his brothers, The silver Spine and The golden-bronze Jon. Then, he promptly disappeared into the con, basking in the glow of adrenaline. 

The Spine watched him go, hat brim low over his photoreceptors and a concerned frown on his face. He was growing wild again, vibrating with excitement, and The Spine didn't know how to stop something that was only growing more frequent. 

Rabbit had been getting like this lately. He spent all of his (recently saved, till now) allowance from the Walters on impulsive purchases-- the last one had been a small skiff, for crying out loud! He'd grinned at his brothers, all teeth showing, and claimed that he was gonna be just like Captain Albert Alexander. The Spine had reminded him gently that because he was approximately four hundred pounds of copper that if he sank to the bottom of the sea (much like Capt. Albert), he'd be staying there for a very, VERY long time. 

"Whaddya doin', calling me F-F-FAT?!" Rabbit had cried, photoreceptors narrowed in irritation. The Jon had giggled at that, and The Spine couldn't save the poor gold-brushed automaton from nursing a mildly-dented cheek for the rest of the week. 

 

The Jon was still put-out by that and wasn’t talking to Rabbit. This was odd in of itself, but odder still was that Rabbit hadn’t yet tried to make amends. Usually a good night’s shutdown was enough to make the ornery bot a bit less ornery… He came right up to whomever he’d offended, doffed his hat, and apologized. No one could refuse when he was so obviously contrite and broken up over hurting them. 

The Spine sighed shortly and pulled himself back to the present. Right now, it was up to the would-be cowboy to corral his brother and bring him back home safe and sound.


	2. Twist and Shout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good gosh, I didn't mean to make this a single-captured fic! I edited it, so it'l show 1/? I'm definitely writing more chapters for this. I also don't love the ending to this chapter, it feels like I cut it off too early, but I wanted to post so people wouldn't think this work was only one chapter!

Rabbit brushed his way through the crowds, sidestepping the con security cronies levelling their glares at him. He and his Steam Man Band had been bought, not invited to perform, and the merchandise was not supposed to wander the con, thank you very much. 

Steve had held The Jon back by his shirt collar when he’d seen a booth dedicated to unicorns and other mythic folk and promptly lunged for it. 

“Sorry, Jonny,” he’d sighed through his teeth, “you can’t go wanderin’ off. Some people here, well… they won’t wanna treat ya right.” The Jon had simply pouted, sure that Steve was simply being a stick in the mud and a real pain to boot, but The Spine had smiled sadly down at the youngest bot. 

“He’s right, The Jon. We need to stick to our guns and stay close to each other.” He’d then successfully distracted The Jon with Bronzey, his plush teddy bear, and that had been that. 

But Rabbit wasn’t so easily deterred, however. These humans were just a new audience to him, to be interacted with and entertained, and in turn, fulfill his purpose. He was born a quick-talking bot with a silver tongue (literally!) and he was always looking for something new to do, someone to con, or a new chain to yank-- it was his mischievous nature that always got him into trouble, but he didn’t think he’d ever be changing his ways. 

He grinned easily at a particularly pretty human and smiled even wider when the guy standing in front of her stopped talking She giggled, the guy glowered, and Rabbit grinned all the more… even as the big brute stomped over, his wise-guy smirk didn’t leave his face.

“H-h-hey there, pally! What’s the problem? You tryin’ to squish some bugs beneath those size twelves, or what?” He let his gaze flick down to the guy’s huge feet, then back up to his face. 

“Yeah, there’s a problem, you walking tin can. What d’you think you’re doing, staring at my girl?” The guy folded his arms, and Rabbit couldn’t help a scoff. Sure, he was impressive-- tall for a human and twice as wide-- but his banter was falling flatter than Rabbit had expected. 

He was ready to deliver his next retort-- something along the lines of “Who let the gorilla outta his cage?”-- when he felt a strong metal hand wrap around his wrist. 

“Whoa there, partner. Let’s just calm down,” The Spine soothed. Looked like he’d shown up at the nick of time… no one had gotten hurt. It wasn’t like Rabbit’s boiler hadn’t, well, boiled over before, but usually he didn’t tease anyone this… large. He began to pull his brother backwards, pausing when he felt some resistance from the other robot. He tugged a bit harder, laughing nervously.

“C’mon, Rabbit,” he murmured, glancing at the still-steaming human towering over them. But Rabbit wasn’t budging.

“I’m sorta in the middle of somethin’ h-h-here, pushy. Why don’t you go and bug someone else?” He shoved the silver bot, who staggered back a step before glowering. He reached up, fixed his hat low over his photoreceptors, and grabbed Rabbit by the ear. 

“Let’s get going, goose,” he said, dragging him off. 

“Ow ow ow ow ow owwwww!” Rabbit squealed, but The Spine ignored him, preferring to get him back to a quiet space where they could talk.

When The Spine had finally let go of his ear, Rabbit scowled mutinously, but stopped dead when he noticed the look on his brother’s face plates.

“Care to explain yourself, then?” He asked, voice low. Rabbit shuffled his feet and opened his mouth to talk...


	3. Get Your Gears In Order

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for a bit of internalized ableism on The Spine's part!
> 
> I feel good about this chapter, and am thinking of trying to post another before the day is out (that, or work on the DGHDA fic I'm also doing). I used a few ideas from bbjkrss' work, "And Everything Is My My Fault (So Spectacular)". It's one of my favorites in ths fandom, and I highly suggest you all go read it! Also, I'm loving th reponse I've gotten from this fic. Thanks for the feedback!

...And promptly spat forth a sordid river of profanity that had The Spine’s mouth hanging open. 

“Ya clumsy-wired, bumble-footed, loose-screw-havin’ hunk a’ junk! Go stick a bolt through your brain and leave me be, you…” he spat, trailing off when The Spine stepped close into his personal space. 

“Now you're just acting like you’ve just been made,” he scoffed at his brother. He was so busy rolling his photoreceptors that he didn’t see the copper fist flying into his face and whacking him on the jaw. 

Stars sparked before his vision, an error code swimming into focus: “AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR DETECTED. FORMULATING RESPONSE.” Before he knew it, his lips were pulled back into a fierce snarl and he was on top of Rabbit with a crash, steam pouring from his opened mouth and photoreceptors glowing a bright red.

“GUYS!” The Jon yelped from the doorway, fumbling for The Spine’s reset switch. The silver bot jerked away, binary rushing forth from his voice box. 

“01001111 01101000 00100000 01100111 01101111 01100100 00100000 01101000 01100101 01101100 01110000 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000!” The Spine screamed. Rabbit stared at him, mouth agape. 

The Jon trilled to him in a short whistle, “Okay, okay, okay, big brother. It’s all right, you’ll be fine…”

But The Spine wasn't able to run it through his processors, the normally-effortless translation coming out garbled and menacing. It became harder and harder to see through the alerts snagging through his systems, and with a jerking heave, he got himself to his feet and pounded down the hall, head ticcing harshly to the side. 

Rabbit and The Jon looked at each other, Rabbit swallowing. 

“What… what did you do to him, Rabbit?” The Jon whispered.

\---

Rocking was the only thing holding his rivets together. Rocking, back and forth, back and forth. Take in a breath on the forward lean, let it out on the backward. It had been too long since he’d taken in a real breath, paused in his singing or gotten some space without someone, be it human or bot, breathing down his neck. The Jon ad been sending him odd glances for a week previous, while Rabbit and the others were absolutely oblivious to the inner panic he’d been feeling. 

He’d not known if he had preferred The Jon’s vague, concerned empathy or the rest of the band’s ignorance until a few hours ago. Now he definitely knew: he preferred them having no inkling of his distress. It wasn't simple embarrassment that kept him tucked away in a broom closet, but his fear that the band members would know. They’d know he was defective, programmed wrong, wired wrong. They’d know, and that was the worst part.

Sure, they treated Rabbit’s constant malfunctions and tics with an endless stream of fondly-exasperated patience, and The Jon’s strange ways with more of the same, but… this was a defect, something that couldn’t be fixed or even really alleviated. He didn't know what it was, but it scared him.

He eyed the wall behind him, frowning as a command prompt buzzed into his vision. It bade him to get some sort of pressure to tune out the ongoing convention penetrating the walls of the small closet, and unconsciously, he began to strike the back of his head against the cement wall. Everything was drowned out for a second, and the sudden silence took his breath away. As the sounds of the con roiled back to him, he hit his head again and again to get that same silence.


	4. Rotten as A Snake (And Twice as Slippery)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter because your comments fuel me to write more! I headcanon The Jon as the youngest, Rabbit the second-oldest, and The Spine as the oldest. They definitely treat The Jon as the youngest because he's so childlike, and it shows in this chapter. Warning: Rabbit does threaten him with corporal punishment because he read it out of To Kill A Mockingbird, and they did come from a time period where that would have been acceptable. It is not followed through on, so it shouldn't trigger anyone, but I wanted to warn you all. Also, I'm lowering the rating to General Audiences, because I don't feel ths fic warrants a teen and up rating-- if you beg to differ, let me know, please! I want everyone as comfortable as possible.

Rabbit’s gears ground against each other in his jaw as Michael paced. “So you deliberately struck him, he flipped out, yelled something in binary, and ran off?” He turned his angry gaze onto Rabbit, who shrank back a bit. 

“I-I-I didn’t mean t’ make him THAT upset!” The copper automaton protested, but Michael wasn’t having any of it. He cut off Rabbit by thrusting a hand in front of his face. This, at least, shut him up.

“I don’t care what you meant to do, Rabbit. I care about what you did do,” he sighed, feeling very much like The Spine (otherwise known as the master of brotherly, long-winded lectures). He turned his attention to Steve, who had just walked in. “Any luck finding him?”

Steve shook his head, a frown twisting his mouth. “Naw, he hasn’t turned up anywhere. Maybe Jon can help?”

The bot in question was… chewing on his fingertips, oil leaking out of his eyes. Michael made a worried noise, coming over to the youngest bot and taking his face in his hands. The Jon’s gaze settled onto his shoulder, not directly making eye contact, and he kept gnawing at his hands. 

“Hey,” Steve murmured, “you okay, Jonnycake?” He’d picked up the name from Rabbit’s most favorite book, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. He’d often happened in on Rabbit reading to The Jon, trying to get him ready to go into stasis.

The Jon looked up at him, shifting uncomfortably on his feet. “Y-yes,” he mumbled. Steve and Rabbit shared A Look, but didn’t press.

“I know where big brother is,” Jon said, tucking his face against Michael’s chest. 

“W-w-well, where is he, The Jon? Ya gotta tell us!” Rabbit begged, coming over and wrapping his arms around The Jon. He had about a head of height on him, and The Jon couldn't help but latch onto his other big brother, sniffling.

“Wouldn’t want me to tell,” he said, lip jutting out. Rabbit released him, putting his hands on his hips and closing one eye, scowling down at his younger brother. The ol’ stink eye worked wonders to keep the littlest bot in line, but today, t didn’t seem to have the same effect. The Jon drew himself up and promptly stuck his tongue out at Rabbit, even as the bigger bot loomed over him.

“Not tellin’, and I’ll be darned if you make me!” The Jon informed Rabbit. He was shaping up to be nearly as stubborn as Rabbit was, but if The Spine was the master of brotherly, long-winded lectures, then Rabbit was the master of tenacity.

“Okay, Jonny. I’m gonna give y-y-you the count a’ three, and if you d-don’t tell us where The Spine is, I’ll… I’ll…” he wavered, and then set his jaw, coming up with an idea from To Kill A Mockingbird. “I’ll hafta put you over my knee.” 

The Jon stared up at Rabbit, shocked. He’d never, ever done that, nor had The Spine. Sure, he’d gotten his fair share of groundings, lectures, and even time-outs-- he was the baby of the band, and everyone treated him as such. But this was a whole new level of mean.

“You’re as rotten as a snake and twice as slippery!” The Jon cried, but Rabbit was ready to follow through.

“One…” he counted, and The Jon wavered, hunching his shoulders.

“Two…!” The Jon bit his lip.

“Three,” Rabbit said, and strode over to him, rolling up his sleeves.

“NO! No no no, big brother, I didn’t mean it, honest! He’s… he’s in th’ broom closet two hallways down! ‘M sorry,” he said sadly, studying his shoes.

Rabbit lifted up Jon’s top hat, ruffling his bronze colored wig. “Sorry, Jonny… I wouldn’ta done it, but we jus’ need to know where he is.” He turned to Michael. 

“Let’s go find ‘im.”


	5. The Pulls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! I actually quite like this one. I'll try for another chapter tonight, if I'm able!

The Spine’s cranium was dented by this point, but honestly? He couldn’t bring himself to care. It wasn’t like he could get brain damage, and anyways, his pain receptors had accepted the less-than-optimal input about an hour ago, dulling themselves and eventually, they cut off altogether. Why did it feel so good? The Spine couldn’t answer that. Something in his networks craved deep pressure, and he was fulfilling it. It was sort of like scratching a particularly irritating itch.

Suddenly, he felt a small, short shock wind its way down into the pit of his boiler. He was… crying? Reaching up to touch the oil that leaked from his photoreceptors did nothing to soothe his sudden distress; it had been decades since he’d cried, and the mysterious suddenness of it terrified him. He grit his teeth against the overwhelm and hunched into a tighter ball. 

He’d been busy lately, working on new songs, helping Rabbit through his latest set of malfunctions, nursing a very ill Sam Luke (that flu was disgusting, but at last he was better now), and trying his damndest to hide his own malfunctions. Even The Jon, who was ridiculously perceptive of others’ emotions-- especially distress-- hadn’t known a thing about it. 

Truth was… The Spine was overworked to the point of collapse. He’d refused to say nothing to the others, though. He was The Spine, for crying out loud! The, ahem, backbone of the team, he was always dependable and calm, for better or worse. 

Michael had scolded him about it before. “Repression”, he called it. Well, The Spine wasn’t “repressing” anything! He was merely staying aloof and hunkering himself down for the worst, which always seemed to find Steam Powered Giraffe. It’s not like he minded… at least, not usually. Now? He was starting to regret a few things. 

He allowed a burst of steam to leave his lips as he resumed rocking and banging his head up against the wall. The oil on his face could be washed off, and the reddish dye leaking from his skull and into his wig was only a measure put in by Colonel Walters to alert troops that, well… that he was in need of repairs. It was similar to human blood. 

No, he’d be okay. He didn’t need anyone, he was fine, he--

The doorway was kicked down with a resounding thud, Rabbit screeching, “A-A-ALL RIGHT, STICK ‘EM UP!” The Spine clamped his hands tight over his ears and recoiled back against the cement, sobbing. The room was suddenly very, very quiet.

Rabbit come over to The Spine carefully, eyes huge. “Why are you, why are you, why are y-you… crying?” He couldn’t even remember the last time his big brother had cried, never mind like this. 

The bot in question shook his head, covering his faceplates with one large hand. The other band members filled the small room.

Michael gasped when he saw the dye trickling down The Spine’s forehead. “Oh, shit, he’s injured…” He knelt down next to the wayward robot, studying him. “Yeah, he’s busted his head pretty bad.”

Sam and Steve joined him in figuring out where The Spine was hurt while Rabbit cradled his face in his copper hands. 

“Okay, bro, you’re fine. We’re gonna get you back to th’ manor, get your boiler filled, an’ everything else settled. Shh, it’s all right, hush now…” 

A small, sweet voice filled the air, quieting everyone’s panicked murmurs. “A man takes off from an airfield, an’ he’s a’soaring very far from home… cuz he flies a B-17, straight through the sky. He’s homesick an’ he knows, it’ll be a very long time ‘till he’s done, an’ he’s got a beautiful girl waitin’ at home…”

The Spine’s petrol tears slowed at The Jon’s singing. He himself was fond of singing lullabies to his younger brothers when they were hurt, getting repairs, or in need of a long night’s stasis. His singing served to calm the two right down, but he’d never been the recipient of a lullaby. He felt his limbs relax and his boiler slow down as The Jon came over and hugged him gently, mindful of his head wound.

“Yes, that’ll, that’ll, that’ll, that’ll, that’ll be the way home…”


	6. Comfort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi friends! Here's another, shorter chapter. I'm going to start work on another fic, "Conversion", which is Hatchworth-centric and pretty dark, theme-wise (PTSD, body horror, etc.) I might even scaffold it instead of just sitting down to bang out a chapter in one sitting like I do with this fic. I am also going to format this fic in a more comprehensive way; this will be the first work in a series called "Novelties", and I'll be renaming this one to "Defect". The next one will focus on The Jon and be called "Starboy", and others will follow. I'll work on the formatting tomorrow; I just thought it was too many ideas to cram into one fic. Hopefully this fic will be finished soon and I will continue fleshing out the series! I love writing this, honestly, and don't see myself running out of ideas anytime soon!

The Spine’s internal processes came online, and he opened his eyes with a slight shudder. He felt a hand on his skull moving, invasively poking and prodding at the metal plates that made up his head. It was a dull, aching sort of pain that plagued him, and a few alerts popped up in rapid succession: “Functioning at 23.3% capacity. Boiler at .2 gallons. Damage sustained to cranium plates. Shutdown? Y/N.” He blinked his right eye to indicate no, he didn’t want to go back into stasis, and groggily shifted a bit. Linens were soft beneath his back; his spines must have been removed so he could lie flat. Why? He was fine--

“N-no-no, no, partner. You ain’t fine, so don’t g-go on repeatin’ it, cuz no one’s gonna believe you,” Rabbit told him firmly, coming into his field of vision. 

“Did I say that out loud?” The Spine rasped, tongue as dry as sandpaper. His boiler was in need of water, and quick, but damned if he was about to admit it. 

It turned out that he didn’t have to, though. Rabbit heard the dryness in his throat and ‘tsk’ed him, grabbing a tall glass of ice water. When the silve bot reached for the glass, though, his hands were shooed away. 

“No, Spine. Y’ gotta lemme do it. Don’t worry, I won’t get an-- any on your shirt,” Rabbit chuckled, and held the glass to his brother’s lips. But the bot wasn’t budging. He folded his arms tight to his chest, ignoring the ache that he felt even with that small movement, and glared up at Rabbit. Rabbit looked at him, unimpressed.

“Okayyyy, then, c-cowboy. I guess we’ll jus’ hafta have a stare d-d-down.” With that, Rabbit screwed up his eyes and scowled at The Spine, a little snarl on his face to intimidate the opposition. 

They held each other's gaze for a few seconds, until Rabbit’s lip curled up on one side and he blasted light from his suddenly too-bright photoreceptors. The Spine hissed, flinching, and Rabbit laughed.

“Told ya I was too smart for ya. Now DRINK,” he splashed a bit of water into The Spine’s mouth when he went to protest, and he quieted instantly, resting his head against the pillow so Rabbit could get more water down his throat and into his starved boiler.

“That’s it, big guy. Down the hatch…” Rabbit murmured, and The Spine heard the tenderness in his voice. Being The Spine, though, he instantly interpreted it as pity, and sat up, shoving the water away. He felt a knuckle knocking on his head firmly, and slumped back down at the wave of pain.

“Yeah, he’s gonna be fine. It’s sorta like he got a concussion? It without the confusion or vision issues, just the pain and drowsiness’ll stick,” Michael said from his place above The Spine’s head. “Stay down, you. You’re gonna be laid up for a few days.”  
Sam let out a low whistle. “Geez, Spine, you gave us quite the fright! We thought you’d… well… I’m glad you’re awake, at least. We’ve been keeping Jonny out of the room so’s you don’t get too excited.”

The Spine opened his mouth to say he was fine, thank you very much, and to let him out of this bed, because as comfy as it may be, he had things to attend to-- and was promptly cut off with another big mouthful of water. 

“Swig it down and next time I might c-consider lettin’ you hold the glass,” Rabbit told him. His tone allowed for no sort of protest, so The Spine scowled but complied, drinking down the whole glass. 

He looked around. They were back at Walter Manor, where he felt the most comfortable. The fight drained out of him until Rabbit was supporting his head like a newborn baby, and his eyes shuttered closed.


	7. Comfort, part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good gosh I'm writing so much lately, but I can't help it! So here's another chapter. Note: the series itself is called Novelties, and this fic has been renamed Defect. just a head's up for clarity's sake!

The Spine was reawakened by a squirming lap full of brass automaton. The Jon pulled at his eyelids, grinning when he sputtered and came to. 

“Big brother!” The Jon cheered, hugging him nice and tight around the middle. The Spine wasn’t usually one for unprepared, unabashed displays of affection, but he thought it right to curl his arms round his littlest brother and hold him close. 

“Hey there, The Jon,” he smiled sheepishly. “My, but you’re… energetic.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah! I was waitin’ for you to wake up like all night, an’ you slept for a looooong time, an’ Rabbit wouldn't let me in to see you, the spoilsport, an’...” The bot’s smile slid off his face when he noticed The Spine flinching. “O-oh. Am I bein’ too loud? Sorry…”

“No, don’t be sorry, goose,” The Spine soothed, a hand covering his aching brow. “I’m just fine.”

The Jon’s lips pulled into a frown. “‘S not what Rabbit said! He said you were gonna be laid up for a week.”

Eyes shooting open, The Spine sat bolt upright. He shortly found out that to be a route to intense dizziness and bit back a groan, getting to his feet with great effort. The Jon’s worried whimpers didn’t deter him, nor did the younger bot’s fruitless grip on his arm. 

“I’m getting up, Jonny,” he told The Jon, and pushed his hand away. The accordion wheezing a few doors down told him right where to go.

His joints creaked and protested as he made his way across the room, staggering into the parlor and setting Rabbit in his sights. He walked right up next to his brother and took Squeezy the accordion right out of his hands. 

“Wh-what’s the big idea, cowboy?” Rabbit said, getting to his feet, but The Spine wasn’t to be distracted. He loomed over Rabbit, scowling down at him.

“What do you mean, laid up for a week?” The Spine asked, faceplates displaying his displeasure quite clearly. Rabbit merely scoffed.

“Just what i-i-it sounds like, bro. Get your silver butt back into bed, or face the wrath of your big brother.”

The Spine pulled up short. “What? I’m the big brother, I was made earlier than you.” He certainly didn’t like the triumphant smirk on Rabbit’s lips, nor did he appreciate the next words to come out of the copper bot’s mouth…

“Yeah, we found some a’ Pappy’s records when we poked around trying to find a way to fix up your head, pal. I was made a whole twenty-two minutes before you were. Guess that’ll make me the big brother, then?” He had the audacity to tap The Spine playfully on the nose. “Now, baby bro, I don’t wanna hafta tell you again: it’s time for stasis.”

The Spine could only gape at his brother until Rabbit sighed, grabbed him around his middle, and picked him up. It was awkward due to the height difference, but made easier for The Spine’s lack of struggling. He was too shocked to squirm as Rabbit carried him right back to bed, tucking the covers up to his chin. 

“You’re gonna stay here until I give you the say-so to get up, c-c-cowboy,” Rabbit told him matter-of-factly. “Cuz I don’t want you taxing yourself, wh-wh-whatever THAT means.”

The Jon watched, giggling a bit when The Spine pouted and folded his arms, turning his nose up at the both of them. “Don’t wanna go to bed,” he mumbled, and if he could've blushed, he would have. 

The Jon’s eyes lit up. “I know! I’ll read to you, it’ll be neat! Hmmmm… how’s about Don Quixote? Rabbit c’n help me sound out the longer words, an’ you can get some shuteye.”

It did sound appealing… and judging by the way Rabbit was looking at him, it looked like he didn’t have much of a choice. Either way, it was always good to let The Jon try and read aloud; his literary proficiency wasn’t great, he always got distracted halfway through a paragraph as his mind wandered to mystical lands.

The Jon scampered off to get the book, and Rabbit rubbed The Spine’s arm gently. 

“C’mon, Stretch. Let us help you for five seconds. You d-d-deserve it.” 

The Spine couldn’t do anything but nod, settling back into the pillows with a little sigh.


	8. Jonny-hunt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Taking a break yesterday was just what I needed to figure out this chapter. Tomorrow I will likely try to work on Conversion. That one's much harder to write, but challenges are good! Happy reading!

A few days passed in this fashion, with his two-- well, one younger and one older brother-- keeping him company. The Spine still wasn’t used to the fact that Rabbit was his big brother, but Rabbit didn’t waste any opportunity to remind of it. It was “baby b-b-bro” this and “little man” that. It set his boiler going, but during those midnight moments where he sat up in bed crying his eyes out from long-past warfare and atrocities he was incapable of fully forgetting, Rabbit would somehow know, seek him out, and wrap his arms tight around him.

It was during one such moment that they heard something over the wifi, a sniffle and a little swallow. The Spine had long since stopped crying and was just laying limply against his big brother’s chest, wrung out. They peered at each other, twin frowns painted on their faceplates. 

“The Jon…?” Rabbit sent through their connection, tentative. He got nothing but roiling static back. The two bots exchanged another glance, Rabbit worrying at his lip.

The Jon tended towards emotional overwhelm. He just seemed to pick up and hold onto whatever emotions others, including humans and even animals, had experienced yet long left behind. Upon seeing a dog left out in the rain by accident, The Jon had taken it by the lead and knocked on the front door shakily. The owners opened the door to find a brass bot with tears of oil streaming down his cheeks, holding their dog’s leash in his hands. They were grateful, yes, but puzzled. The rain was an inconvenience to the dog, but not a misery, and surely not a life-threatening one. Yet The Jon had insisted they take it out of the rain even as the drizzle began to clear up before he was done talking.

Imagine what had happened when he saw an angry man send a cat sprawling with a sharp kick. It had taken the whole band to stop The Jon from crushing the man’s wrist in his hand, spitting swears The Spine certainly wasn’t aware of him downloading. Rabbit had looked at The Spine guiltily while curses poured from The Jon's mouth, so that was one mystery solved, but no one was fully able to parse just why the youngest was so emotionally volatile. The humans and Rabbit just chalked it up to sensitivity, but The Spine was a bit more worried than that. What if The Jon saw something truly frightening? He wasn't exposed to the kinds of things that his big brothers were, but… 

The Spine’s eyes widened. “Aw, hellfire!” he yelled, and Rabbit stared at him for a second. 

“Y-you never swear, Spine! Better wash out that mouth a’ yours before The Jon-- Shoot!” Rabbit had come to the same realization that The Spine had; the silver bot had neglected to disconnect from the wifi, and The Jon had seen his nightmares in gory, vivid detail.

“J-j-jus’ how b-bad was it-t-t?” Rabbit stammered. The Spine looked away.

“Bad enough,” he murmured, shoulders hunching in. “We’d better go find him.” 

Rabbit jumped out of the bed easily, grimacing a bit when The Spine gave a grunt as he tried to heave himself up. He lid a hand onto The Spine’s arm, pressing down a little.

“I’ll go lookin’ for him, you stay here,” he soothed, patting his arm a few more times. He disappeared through the doorway and down the hall, footsteps clinking and clanking against the protesting wooden floorboards. 

A few minutes passed of tense waiting, until The Spine could no longer stand it. He was the protective one of the bunch, always sympathetic to The Jon’s eccentricities (even if he didn’t always understand them). His firm yet solid presence always seemed to calm the littlest bot down.

So he squared his shoulders, put on his hat, and rose from the bed. He was going on a Jonny-hunt.


	9. Catches On Like a Prairie On Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got my second wind and decided to put this up early! I will still be working on an update for tomorrow, too. <3

His joints all but screamed at the pressure he was putting them through, but The Jon couldn’t care less. Right now, this pressure was keeping him from Causing A Fuss. He wanted to be a good boy, and good boys didn’t Cause A Fuss.

Chassis creaking, The Jon shifted onto his side to give his left some attention. The generator hummed in such a kind way that it brought oil tears to the brass bot’s eyes. He set up a hum in his throat to match the frequency so it would be like talking to a little old man on the porch, the man smoking some good tobacco and The Jon happily drinking a cup of tea. The sun would shine down on them both.

Footsteps snapped him out of his reverie. They were heavy, but not stutter-stepping like Rabbit's usually were… The Jon tried to make himself as small as possible to avoid detection by his big brother. The Spine always knew what to say to make things feel better, but right now, The Jon didn’t want to feel better, he wanted to be alone.

The Spine poked his head in silently, photoreceptors glowing neon green. They bored through the darkness, a beam from a lighthouse on a foggy night, and The Spine gasped when he found his little brother.

The Jon was curled under the 300-pound generator like a penny wedged under a wobbly chair to keep it steady. He was the lightest of the bots at a fragile 150 pounds, and The Spine heard his chassis groan beneath the weight, threatening to collapse and crush The Jon. He’d be unsalvageable!

“JONNY!” The Spine yelled, lunging for the generator. He bent down and lifted, infrastructure straining like mad to save the littlest bot. But The Jon wasn’t exactly cooperating. He tucked himself beneath the huge weight out of The Spine’s reach, turning his face away.

A flash of copper caught The Spine’s eye, and before he knew it, Rabbit was worming his way beneath the generator and shoving The Jon out. The Spine snagged the jack The Jon must have used to lift the behemoth of a power source and stuffed it underneath, stopping the generator from turning his big brother into mush. Luckily, Rabbit was built to be a bit hardier than the other bots, and came out with nary a scratch. 

The Spine was in The Jon’s face before Rabbit could react, shouting. “You could have been KILLED, Jon! What in the name of-- what the HELL were you thinking?!”

The Jon could only gape at him. He, nor Rabbit, had ever seen The Spine so livid. It was utterly unprecedented, and he looked toward Rabbit for help.

But The Spine wagged a finger in the brass bot’s face. “No, he’s not going to step in and save the day for you, Jonny. You need to know the consequences of your actions. You… you go to the corner. I can’t look at you right now.”

He turned away as The Jon burst into heaving tears. “I said corner, Jon, now.” His voice was as hard and cold as his chassis. Rabbit stared at him, shocked.

The Jon shuffled into the corner, still crying. The oil got all over his favorite dinosaur pajamas, which started him sobbing all over again. He peered at his brothers over his shoulder, sniffing pitifully. 

Rabbit mouthed, “Sorry, Jonny,” but The Spine wouldn’t even acknowledge him. His koi went crazy in his chest and he faced the wall once more. He smashed his head against it, sending a stream of pain down his sensors.

The Spine pulled up short. That was exactly what he’d done a few days ago in an effort to block everything out. 

He came over to The Jon, wrapping his arms tightly around the shorter automaton. “I’m sorry I bawled you out, Jonnycake… there, there, shhhh. It’s all right, you’re all right…” 

The Jon calmed right down, settling into his big brother’s chest with a little whimper. This pressure was even better than the generator bearing down on him, because he was close to someone he loved. He listened to The Spine’s internal processings, lifting his hand to put his thumb in his mouth.

Rabbit opened his mouth to tease The Jon, but The Spine’s patented Sharp Look of Disapproval stopped him before he could utter a syllable. 

Instead, he joined his brothers, holding them close. 

“A-a-all right, guys,” he whispered, not wanting to shatter the emotional moment. “I think it’s t-time for bed, an’ we’ll have a talk about this in the mornin’.”


	10. Settling At the Bottom of the Sea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter in this particular story, but have no fear! I have plenty of ideas for this series and will be expanding upon the themes Ive set up in this story. I'm super proud of this work, especially it being my first for this fandom, and the reception I've gotten is amazing. Thanks for making me feel welcome and eager to write a lot more for SPG!
> 
> -Em

The Spine was the first to awake of the three brothers. He had his arms wrapped securely around The Jon, locking his limbs so The Jon couldn’t run off or do anything rash. It was an unnecessary precaution, judging by how closely The Jon was snuggled up against him. The young bot had his thumb in his mouth, sucking sleepily as his koi splashed languidly in his chest. He often sucked his thumb when Rabbit wasn’t around to rib him about it; he’d said the pressure against the roof of his mouth soothed him when his thoughts got to be too much.

A lot of things The Jon did flashed back to The Spine suddenly. His twirling in place when he was overwhelmed, his hands flapping like mad when he was so exuberant he just couldn't keep it to himself, his throwing his hands over his ears when the sounds of the outside world contended with the noises in his own head… suddenly, something clicked. It all made sense.

Maybe Jonny had the same defect he did.

He felt a hand grasp at his, and turned to see Rabbit gazing at him gravely. 

“I think w-we gotta go have that talk now, cowboy,” he said, squeezing his silver hand in his own copper one.

\---

Rabbit fixed The Spine up with a hot cup of liquid alloy before settling across from him with his own mug. He paused to let his little brother get comfortable before speaking.

“Th’ Spine… it ain’t a defect,” he started. “What you’ve got’s called autism. It’s a sorta… hm. How do I put this…? It’s jus’ a different way of being. Pappy wanted you an’ The Jon to have your own strengths and weaknesses. I found your schematics when you were flat on your back in bed. It’s no accident; it was planned.

“Y’see, The Jon’s got this thing called hyperempathy. It means he soaks up others’ emotions like a vacuum. It can get to be too much, which is why he’s so sensitive… it also makes him pretty wise to the future, though I don’ think that Pappy really planned that bit. He jus’ sees things in a different light than you and me, little bro. Doesn’t means he’s got a defect.

“You, on the other hand? You don’t really get emotions an’ social stuff. Instead, you’re a man of logic. You figure things out easily cuz you can see patterns in everything, and you keep a cool head in situations. ‘S prolly why you’re the most mature out of us.”

Rabbit stopped to let this sink in, studying The Spine’s faceplates. What he saw there must’ve been worrying, because he gripped his face gently in his gloved hands.

“‘M bein’ honest, Spine. There ain’t a thing wrong with you, jus’ makes you, you. Humans c’n be autistic too. Do some research on the wifi an’ you’ll get it. It’s nothin’ to be ashamed about.” With that, he kissed his little brother firmly on the forehead. 

The Spine sat back, mulling things over. When Rabbit said “autism”, something fell into place. He felt like he could breathe again without his boiler flooding over. He wasn’t defective, and he wasn’t to be thrown out in the scrapyard. He was just… different.

“That’s right,” someone said behind him, and he turned to see Steve, Sam, and Michael smiling down at him. Michael went on, “We don’t think any less of you, Spine. You’re a good bot-- a good man.”

The Spine’s eyes filled with oil tears, and he cleared his throat shakily. “Y-yeah,” he mumbled, swiping at his optics. “I mean… thanks.”

Rabbit gave him a squeeze and nodded for the others to clear out. The silver automaton needed some time to process. When they left, he turned his attention back to The Spine.

“Don’t you worry, little bro. We love ya to death.” He filed out of the room.

The Spine swallowed his tears, blotting at his eyes with a napkin. He felt… safe. This was his family, and they’d never let him be hurt. He loved them with every fiber of his being, and nothing would change that-- not even something as major as his internal wiring couldn’t drive them off. 

And it shouldn’t, he realized. He was perfect the way he was.

Like a stone settling at the bottom of the sea after a storm, he finally let himself rest.


End file.
